Discovering Chiang Mai

April 16

Finally, the new year celebrations have come to an end and we can walk around wherever we want without the fear of getting drenched with ice cold water.  It was fun while it lasted, but none of us is sorry to see it end.  We make the most of our newly re-discovered freedom and walk around the old town in search of a hotel that is more centrally located.  We must chart about 10 miles today.  Down the Sunday Market street and out through the Tha Phae Gate toward the night market street we go.  We occasionally duck down a side street to check out a guest house or hotel and are narrowing down our options.  One thing is clear, we really want a hotel with a pool to give us a break from the searing heat.  We go into a couple and then get a bit hungry. We find a really nice Vegetarian Restaurant and have a nice meal here.  We laugh at the thought of how differently we eat now….we expect that upon our return home we will be enjoying Massaman Curry for dinner.  The restaurant has a mission to assist with wounded elephants and a large part of the money goes toward the care and rescue of mistreated elephants in this area.  We leave feeling good in our tummies and our hearts.  Onward we go and find the street that goes to the night market and look into a few high rise hotels here.  We are amazed that the walk-in price is nearly twice the online price for the hotels, but at least we can have a first-hand look at what they are like.  We return to our senses and realize that we are not the high-rise hotel type, but it is interesting to see the night market area during the day.  We return toward the Tha Phae Gate and get a taxi ride back to the guest house with no real decision on where to move the following day.  After we return to the guesthouse, Paulie and I strike out on our own again and go around in a different neighborhood to see what they have to offer in terms of accommodation.  In the end, we find ourselves back in the same area we have discovered earlier and Paulie decides to purchase a ying-yang pendant he found. Later we agree on the Chiang Mai Thai House where the room is a bit more expensive than we want, but it has a pool and meets many of the required criteria we are looking for.  We are a bit reluctant to tell our landlord that we plan to move since she is so sweet and is just starting out in her guesthouse, but it is really too far from where we want to be.  Once we get back, we rest a while and then return to the same noodle house for dinner (again).  We watch TV and hit the hay from another very long, hot and active day.